Why is it Always Snakes?
by aniuwolfe
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto, the highest ranking ANBU in the village of Kohona, are assigned a new mission. Where to you ask? Britain! NarHP crossover. If you don't like crossovers then this fic's not for you. Okies! Have a nice day!
1. The Mission

Why is it Always Snakes?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto of Harry Potter. I would need money for that...which I am sadly lacking.

Three Things you should know:

-There are most likely numerous grammar mistakes and such. My apologies, but I'm not perfect.

-Sort of in Sasuke POV. You usually hear his thoughts more than Naruto's, so I guess it's in his POV.

-Just to let you readers know, this story takes place during the fifth HP book, Order of the Phoenix. This little bit of info is important to the story line, in case you were wondering.

Oh, and references (such as he said/she said things) are_ italicized_. There are other words that are italicized, but they're being emphasized. You'll know what I mean when you see it. That's it. Enjoy!

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Ch 1: The Mission

"Man, the way Baa-chan summoned us, you woulda thought this mission was to save the world of something," sighed Naruto, removing his animalistic ANBU mask. Sasuke glanced over at him, rolling his eyes under his own mask as they wound through the streets of Kohona. Well, it was more like wandering; they really weren't paying attention to their surroundings. They knew their feet would take them to each of their respective residences.

"This mission _is_ important, baka," he stated simply. "If Tsunade-sama sees it fit for the two of us, the highest-ranking ANBU in the village, to go on a mission, then it is important."

"Ugh. For once, could you just agree with me? I mean, she made me leave my ramen behind! My _ramen, _Sasuke!" the blonde whined at his comrade. Sasuke just kept walking, his mask hiding his expression.

Since Sasuke was used to Naruto's constant steam of complaints, he learned to tone them out. He was glad for the porcelain mask covering his face, for it let his mind wonder without Naruto knowing for a brief period of time.

He was eighteen. He could still remember the first time he ever really noticed Naruto. How he sat on that dock and thought, 'Wow, this kid's just like me'; though he would never admit it to anyone that he thought that. After all, Uchiha Sasuke was a rock. So he turned his head up and scowled at the boy, and watched him scowl back. Both boys then turned their heads and grinned. He then knew they would eventually become acquaintances, then friends, then brothers. And it was true. He, age eighteen, and Naruto, age seventeen, were as close as brothers could be.

Except for the fact that he didn't like that ramen stuff. Naruto still didn't understand that one.

"-suke! Oi, Sasuke!"

Oops.

He took the mask off and looked at Naruto; Naruto had probably figured out he wasn't listening about four seconds ago, which was way too long. He usually didn't find out at all.

"Hey! What's the point in me talking if you don't listen!?" Naruto scoffed at him, puffing out his cheeks in annoyance. Sasuke just looked at him.

"What's the point in me listening if all you're going to say is pointless and oriented around food?" Sasuke countered, prompting Naruto into sticking his tongue out at him.

Sasuke grinned hopelessly. Naruto really was a dork. Now time for the scolding.

"Naruto. Seriously, this mission is S-class. We need to be-"

"_Stocked up on weapons, first-aid, and other equipment we see fit for any high-ranked mission._ I know, I know." Naruto said sighing. "sheesh, so serious..." he said, his tone drifting off. He glanced over, grinning at Sasuke. Sasuke gave in to a small smirk back. Naruto grinned even larger, pleased by the attention. Even though he was so much older, Naruto still acted like he did when he was still a genin, striving to be Hokage. Sasuke didn't mind, though. He still felt bad for the Orochimaru incident, as he liked to think of it. He had been afraid that Naruto would hate him for all that he'd done, but Naruto just grinned, showing him that he didn't hate him and could never do so. These thoughts made Sasuke quite content with just strolling through Kohona with Naruto, the boy who was once his bitter rival, at his side.

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"O-kay!...now what?" Naruto asked as he and Sasuke wound their way down the forest path that they were told to follow. Sasuke rolled him eyes under his mask.

"I mean, Baa-chan could have been a little more helpful in her explanation. _Follow the path I marked with a kunai tagged with a red ribbon, and you will get to where you need to be. _Yeah, that's really heplful!" Naruto exclaimed sarcastically, stomping his foot alot harder than was necessary as they lept from branch to branch. "I mean, I know we know our way around this forest, but this is ridiculous!"

"You should stop calling her that," Sasuke said to his still-fuming companion."And I'm sure we'll know what she meant in time."

"Hmph. How can you be so calm? It's annoying and...and unnatural!"

"Are you calling me unnatural?"

"Yeah, maybe I am."

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a moment before letting a small "hmph" escape his lips. Naruto smirked in triumph.

"So, the mission report says," Sasuke started, changing the subject as he pulled a few slips of clipped-together papers out of his ANBU black-ops robe,"that we are to protect a boy named Harry Potter and the school he resides in from any enemies that may present themselves," reiterated Sasuke, putting the papers away. "Sounds...Interesting." he finished, sarcasm coating his last words.

"Wow. Did I just hear you use sarcasm? Sasuke Uchiha, using sarc-hey, no throwing kunai, mister." Naruto shouted, easily dodging the kunai that was chucked it his direction by Sasuke. The blade made a dull "thunk" as it hit the tree Naruto was just in front of.

"As I was saying before I was rudely interu-" Naruto started, but was interupted (yet again-poor Naruto) by Sasuke suddenly appearing on his branch, his hand over Naruto's mouth. Sasuke put a finger over his own mouth, showing Naruto to be quiet, then removed his hand from Naruto's mouth. Naruto immediately changed from maverick to professional ninja as he noticed a cat standing on the forest floor about 100 feet away from them. Both silently took out kunai and stood and waited, trying to decifer whether the cat was friend or foe. Being highly-trained ANBU, they knew not to take anything for granted. The simple brown tabby cat could easily be a ninja using a transformation justu, in order to pass, unoticed, as a cat. Good thing both of them knew better.

The cat simply stood there, ears straining to hear sound. Then, slowly, it began to change. It wasn't changing like it would have been if it were a transformation jutsu, though; the cat was sort of morphing into something else, rather than disapearing and having the user reappear in a cloud of smoke. Naruto and Sasuke watched, still concealed by the cover of the tree leaves.

The cat was gone. In it's place stood a very strange-looking woman; she had on forest green robes, a matching hat, and a tight bun at the base of her neck. 'Not a hair out of place,' Sasuke thought, looking her over. No, she was definetly not a ninja.

Apparently, Naruto decided now was the time to act.

"State your business!" Naruto shouted demandingly. Sasuke glanced over at him. It was still suprising to him when Naruto showed his real force when encountering enemies.

"Are you the boys that Professor Dumbledore hired for the protection of our school?" the woman shouted into the distance in a demanding voice. He nodded at Naruto, and Naruto nodded back. They both leapt off of the brach simultaneously, landing around ten feet away from her.

"We are ANBU," Sasuke stated simply.

"Could you please take you masks off, so I can see your faces?" She said in her commanding voice.

"No," Naruto said simply.

"It's part of our uniform,"Sasuke added blandly.

"Well, um..." the woman started, looking bemused. She clearly did not expect this. "I was sent to come collect the boys that were hired from this village to protect our school," She repeated, not knowing what else to do.

"Do you have a copy of the report?" Sasuke asked, walking forward. Naruto followed. "In short, do you have proof that is why you are really here?" Naruto added.

"Ah, yes, I do," she said as as she pulled a few slips of what looked like parchment out of her robe. She handed it to Sasuke.

As Sasuke's eyes ran over the paper, the woman glanced over at them. Naruto looked at her, amused.

"You know, we aren't gonna bite you," Naruto said, suprising the woman. "And it would help if you introduced yourself."

"Oh, yes. I'm professor McGonagall," she said, standing up straighter.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke. Sasuke nodded at him, showing him she was all right.

"Well, you check out," Sasuke said, handing the parchment back to her and shifting his cat-like mask to the side of his head, "I'm Uchiha Sasuke, and he," he said nodding his head in Naruto's direction, "is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hiya," Naruto said, giving her a small wave. He, too, moved his mask to the side of his head; his was shaped in the form of a fox.

"Um, hi," She said, suprised by the sudden change of personality from both boys. "Listen; now that I have met with you, we should probably depart for the school. I doubt the Professor though it would take this long," she finished, muttering the last part. Naturally, both boys heard it. Luckily for her, they did not care. "Are you ready to depart?" She added, looking them down. Both of them were carrying a pack on their backs and numerous weapon holsters.

"Yeah, we're all set," Naruto responded.

"Okay, then lets head out," she said, taking what looked like an old discarded hat out of her robe. Both boys looked at each other, one eyebrow raised. The Professor took what looked like an ordinary stick out of her robes, pointed it at the hat, and muttered "portus". The hat quivered for a moment, then lay unmoving, looking as worn as ever. Both boys jumped back a little at this, suprised by the movement of the hat. McGonagall raised her eyebrows.

"Oh yes. Professor Dumbledore did say you would know nothing of magic." she said, mostly to herself. Naruto and Sasuke looked at eath other, slightly humored.

"Magic?" Naruto asked, his eyebrows raised. "Wait, is that how you turned into a cat without a transformation jutsu?"

"Yes. We will be going to a school of magic called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As for the 'cat' bit, I'm an animagus, and I can change into a cat at will. " She responded, ignoring the mention of jutsu.

"Witchcraft and wizardry," Sasuke repeated, his eyebrows also raised.

"Yes, and if you have any other questions, I advise you to bring it up with Professor Dumbledore when we get to the school," she said, briskness in her voice. "For now, come over here."

Naruto and Sasuke looked rather annoyed, but walked next to her all the same.

"Now-grap hold of the hat."

"What?" Naruto and Sasuke asked simultaneously.'She has to be joking' Sasuke thought, looking down and the hat.

"This is a portkey. It is how we will be getting to the school. Now grab it," she said, grabbing hold of it herself.

"Wh-wha?" Naruto started, but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall shouting, "Now!"

They both grabbed the hat hurriedly. Sasuke felt himself being pulled by his navel up into the air, spinning rapidly, his body banging into Naruto's, his hand locked onto the hat. 'I Hate this mission already,' he thought before slamming into the ground next to Naruto.

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Well, there you go. First chapter. I'm not that good of a writer, but I like this idea of mine.

Oh, for future reference, when Sasuke refers to his brother, it is Naruto (unless I state that it's Itachi. Until then, Sasuke refers to Naruto as his brother). Aww ain't that cute! But I am referring to the manga when I say that Naruto is like his brother and vice versa.

Until next time! Oh, and please review! No flames, please! I like constructive criticism, but I don't like mean people. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Wow. Now that I feel like my dad, I will leave you to your business. Au revoir!


	2. The Client

Why is it Always Snakes?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto of Harry Potter. I would need money for that...which I am sadly lacking.

Okies, My second chapter. Yay!

And, to repeat myself, this fic is based around The Order of the Phoenix, and the story is gonna be as though I flung our two favorite ninja into the book. All of the events happening will be from the book (well, most of them anyway-I have to modify things a little!)

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Ch 2: The Client

They got up, groaning. 'I certainly didn't expect that,' Sasuke thought as he looked around, taking in his surroundings; it would have been challenging for others, as it was nighttime and most people can't see in the dark, but Sasuke found it simple. Behind them was what looked like a very large forest, and a rather large cottage on the edge of it. But what really caught Sasuke's eye was a pile of bricks and rubble complete with a sign saying "Danger: No Trespassing" on it (sorry, but I don't know what the sign actually said; I'm too lazy to search out my copy of Sorceror's Stone).

"What the..." Naruto started, but stopped himself. Instead, he said, "Is there an Illusion justu cast on the school or something?"

"Well, I know nothing of 'jutsu'," McGonagall replied, emphasizing the word "justu" in a sort of scournful tone, "but, yes, there is a spell on the school."

"Well, can you release it?" Sasuke asked rather coldly. He was still in a bad mood from being thrust onto the ground without warning by an enchanted hat. 'Stupid hag could have at least warned me,' Sasuke thought, then scolded himself. 'No, I'm not gonna think of her as a hag. After all, that's Naruto's job,' he replied to himself, thinking of Tsunade. He was thinking about using the Sharingan, but she answered his question first.

"Yes," she said tartly, taking out the same stick and walking over to Sasuke. "There is a spell..." she muttered, and without warning, she wacked him over the head with her stick-thing, sending an odd tickling sensation through his body. His hand automatically flew to his head, touching the part she hit with her stick. But instead of getting even more mad at her, he looked at the stones, seeing if the spell-thing worked. He was suprised to see the rubble disapear to form a giant castle mounted on a cliff, stationed in front of a large lake. he glanced over at Naruto; apparently she had done the spell on him as well, for he was staring straight ahead, too.

It wasn't that they were suprised the huge building had suddenly appeared there; they were adept at illusion jutsu. It was the fact that they had never seen a castle before, since they didn't live in that area. all they had were rather large village buildings and towers. This stone monstrosity was a bit overwhelming for them.

"Well, come on then," she said impatiently, walking towards a torch-lit group of boats floating next to the bank. They followed, and climbed into one after her.

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"This place is huge!" Naruto said, looking around as they walked through the front door, leading into an exceedingly large entrance hall. Naruto and Sasuke looked up in amazement; the ceiling of the giant room was as black as the night outside.

"The ceiling is is enchanted to look like the outside," Professor McGonagall interjected tersely, causing both boys to look over at her. They both gave her questioning looks.

"Nevermind. Just follow me. Professor Dumbledore said he wanted to see you when you arrived," She said, walking off. The two followed her.

As they walked in front of a stone gargoyle, they readjusted their masks so they were covering their faces again.They heard McGonagall muttered something that sounded like "coconut clusters", then watched as the gargoyle jumped up and moved aside, showing them a revolving staircase. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other, then followed the professor up the staicase.

When they reached the top, they heard an elderly voice say, "Enter". The door opened to reveal a highly decorated circular room. Sasuke thought it was just filled with countless amounts of what looked like pointless chachkis used to make the room seem more "shiny". What caught his attention, however, was a rather large red-and-gold plumed bird sitting on a golden stand. Naruto noticed it, too, but made no reaction. After all, they were on the job now.

The bird, however, seemed to like Naruto quite a bit, for it suddenly spread it's wings and flew to Naruto's shoulder, where it sat, looking quite content. Naruto just looked at it, his mask hiding his expression.

"Ah. I see Fawkes has taken a liking to you," a voice said suddenly. Sasuke took his eyes off of the bird and looked to the center of the room. An elderly man sat behind a large oak desk, his hands crossed on it's top. The man had an exceedingly long beard, half moon specticles, and a kind expression on his face. He smiled, looking at Naruto. The bird cooed softly from his shoulder.

"I hope I am not intruding at such a late hour, professor..." McGonagall said from the door; Sasuke hadn't noticed she was still there.

"No, Minerva, I thank you for bringing them to me. I trust your journey was pleasurable?" The professor said, looking from her to Sasuke and Naruto. The boys nodded.

"Ah...Why don't you two take your masks off?" professor McGonagall asked, still standing near the door. 'Why hasn't she left yet?' Sasuke thought, turning his head slightly so he could see her.

"Minerva, you look tired. I suggest you go to bed. Would you favor a nghtcap?" Dumbledore asked, changing the subject. Sasuke wasn't sure if it was intentional or not; either way, he was pleased. He was sick of explaining why they wore their masks.

"Ah, no, professor. Good night," she said. She gave the two ninja what seemed like an untrustworthy look to Sasuke before exiting down through the spiraling staircase.

"Please forgive Minerva. She is not one to trust so easily, and I do believe she finds you a tad intimidating," Dumbledore said, looking from the closed door to them. "And, although it is somewhat of a tradition to wear your masks, I would advise that you take them off from time to time."

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, and, seeing him nod, slid his mask over to the side of his head. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha," he said.

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said, also moving his mask. Fawkes lept lightly from his shoulder and glided over to his perch, where he sat, unmoving.

"I am Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, though just professor Dumbledore would sufice. And it is very nice to meet you," he said, nodding at them. "Now for the reason why I hired you. There is a boy that goes to this school that is different from the others. In short, he was attacked by the most ruthless wizard in our time and survived. This is strange because no one ever has before. Whoever encounters this man is found dead sometime in the near future. His name," he said, glancing at the boys again, "is Lord Voldemort, and he is a fearsome being. Last year we had something occur that drew my immediate attention to the matter."

"Okay. So do you expect we will confront this man?"

"I doubt it, but one can never be too careful. I want you two to be prepared for anything."

"Okay," Sasuke started, pulling out the report from his traveling robe, "you mentioned in the report that we were to also to guard the school. What does that encompass? What are we going to be guarding it against?"

"Anything that you feel is unsettling or dangerous," the old man said simply. Naruto gave him what looked to Sasuke like an exasperated look. He wasn't being too definite, was he?

"Is that all?" The blonde asked politely, not looking at Sasuke.

"Oh yes. I'm assuming you want to know more about this place. You come from a different area, so it's no doubt you are confused as to what we can do," Dumbledore said brightly.

"Professor McGonagall said something about magic," Sasuke said simply.

"Ah yes. Magic."

Dumbledore reached his hand behind his back, pulled out one of those sticks, waved it once at Sasuke, and Naruto burst out laughing. Sasuke turned around and looked in the reflecting glass of a wardrobe behind him: his hair had been turned bright pink.

Before Sasuke could but stutter at the old man, Dumbledore waved the stick again, and Sasuke's hair was instantly back to it's original shade of black. Sasuke scowled and grabbed a lock of his bangs, to make sure it was really black again.

Dumbledore beamed brightly at Sasuke, who was now done inspecting his hair.

"Magic can do many things, not unlike your 'jutsu' I have heard about. It can do simple things, such as that, and it can do darker things. Things that only Lord Voldemort would dre attempt," the man's eyes suddenly went from bright to grave as he spoke. "Do not get overconfident."

"We never do."

Dumbledore smiled at them. "I have arranged for you to sleep in the dormitory with Mr.Potter so you can be close."

"We understand," the two said in unison.

"You have traveled a long way, and most likely wish to sleep." Considering it was around two in the morning, judging by Sasuke's internal clock, they were most certainly tired, but would never admit it.

Sasuke looked over at his companion as he heard Naruto's stomach grown. Typical. Sasuke grinned slightly as Naruto clutched at his stomach, looking embarassed. Dumbledore smiled.

"Ah, but I see you would rather eat first, then sleep."

"Heh heh..." Naruto laughed sheepishly. Considering Sasuke was also hungry, he did not comment.

"It is no problem. I will escort you to the kitchens where they will fix you anything you wish," Dumbledore said, standing up.

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"Well, what do you think?" Sasuke asked, looking over his meal at Naruto. those freaky little house elves were standing around, looking pleased that their patrons were engoying the food.

"It's delicious! I was worried, since we're not in-"

"I didn't mean the ramen, Naruto. Geez. Talk about one-track-mind," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "No, I meant about this whole thing. About the magic, this Voldemort guy, everything."

Naruto looked up from his ramen. "Well, I think that if that Dumbledore guy said this Voldemort is someone not to be trifled with, then we should believe him. I could tell that man was powerful."

Sasuke nodded. He had felt it, too; the power and strength emanating from that old man rivaled that of the Third Hokage's.

"Well, either way, this is gonna be a pain," Naruto said from behind his bowl. "We haven't watched over a kid in a while."

"Yeah, I know. I just hope he doesn't get in the way." Sasuke said, looking down at his plate. he picked up his chopsticks and continued eating his sushi. It really was cool how those house elves, as Dumbledore had called them, would make them whatever they wanted.

When they were finished, they looked around. Dumbledore had told them to ask an elf named dobby to take them to the Gryffindor tower.

"Ah, is one of you guys named Dobby?" Naruto asked, bowing over them, as if he could tell which one it was by simply looking at them.

"Here I am, sirs! Do you need dobby's assistance?" An elf said, bouncing over to them.

"Yeah. Could you help us get to the Gryffindor tower?"

"Certainly!" The elf said excitedly. He jumped up and headed for the back of the portrait of fruit they had used to get in. "Follow Dobby!"

"Yeah...this place, is weird." Naruto said, as they walked through the portrait hole and watched as random paintings waved at them. Sasuke nodded, agreeing.

It was gonna be a long year.


	3. The Meeting

Why is it Always Snakes?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter. I would need money for that...which I am still sadly lacking.

Well, I'm back. Sorry for the distressed "chapter update" I put up a little bit ago. I really am trying to get this fic done, but as I mentioned previously, I'm having family issues and my muse totally abandoned me. This chapter isn't as good as I'd like it to be, but hey-it's an update, which makes me happy. I want to please all of you guys as best I can. I really am trying hard XD. It might not seem like it, but I am.

Well, now that you've read whatever that was-a brain dump, maybe?-I will leave you to your reading. Sorry it took sooooo long!

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Sasuke was jolted awake from his sleeping position on the floor by a ruckus of noise and something hitting him hard in the face. Startled, he jumped up, his senses alert. He quickly searched for Naruto, only to find him on the floor, cowering behind a pillow. Sasuke would have laughed at the ridiculous sight, but he had more pressing matters. Like the people that were screaming at him.

"What the bloody hell-?" Sasuke heard a voice to his right shout. He shifted his attention to the source of the shout and saw a red-headed boy around the age of sixteen holding a blanket up in front of himself as some sort of shield. "What are you doing in here!?" He shouted again, picking up the thing that was nearest to him-which happened to be a sock-and brandished it at Sasuke threateningly. Sasuke heard Naruto snort at the boy's sorry attempt at protection.

"Yeah, what are you doing in here?" Sasuke heard another voice shout in a strange accent and turned to see a brunette boy glaring at him also. 'Well, these people certainly aren't friendly,' Sasuke thought, still not speaking. He thought back on why he was there and remembered-'that creepy little elf-thing told us that Prof. Dumbledore said we should sleep in the same room as the boy we needed to protect. But I don't recognize any of these kids,' he thought, ignoring the brunette as he turned to examine the room and look for the boy on their report. He spotted a boy with messy black hair in a bed to his left, searching in vain for what Sasuke assumed to be his glasses.

"Hey, you. Are you Harry Potter?" Sasuke asked, still ignoring the other occupants of the room, which infuriated the red-head even more.

"What's it to you!?" the red-head boy snarled, standing up violently and abandoning him make-shift shield. Naruto jumped up from the floor as well and stood in a challenging position behind Sasuke, his hands on his hips. "Why don't you ask more politely and maybe we'll answer!" The blonde replied, making the boy flush in anger. Sasuke held up his hand, and Naruto fell silent, still scowling.

"Are you Harry Potter?" Sasuke repeated patiently, awaiting an answer from the boy whom which had finally located his glasses and was now sliding them on. He looked and Sasuke and Naruto and answered, "Who wants to know?"

"I don't think you've earned the right to learn our names yet," Sasuke said simply. The other boys erupted in complaints and curses immediately following this; another boy had now just woken had also elected in the act of yelling at the two ninja. In fact, the only ones who weren't yelling at this point were Harry himself and a round-cheeked mousy looking boy, whom Sasuke just now noticed.

The boy sat up straighter and mumbled, "...Hey, guys-maybe we should listen to them."

Naruto smiled warmly at the boy and Sasuke felt the boy courageous for speaking up against his friends; simply because of the boy's body language, they could tell he wasn't a very brave person. The shouting 5th-years stopped yelling and looked over at the shaking brunette boy. "Neville..."The boy with the weird accent said, his eyes wide.

"Well, we still would like to know why you're here. I mean, you can't expect us to not be a little freaked when we wake up to see two strangely-dressed boys sleeping on the floor of our dormitory," Harry replied, sounding a little frustrated and very sarcastic; Sasuke could tell the boy was regularly sarcastic.

"Oh yeah-I just remembered! Hold on a sec," Naruto suddenly burst out, causing Sasuke to glance back at the blonde, curious as to what he had suddenly remembered. Naruto darted over to his over-stuffed bag and, throwing things out hurriedly, pulled out a rolled-up slip of parchment. "This should help."

Naruto walked over to Harry and handed the parchment to him then stood, hands at his sides, waiting for his response. The red-head and the other two boys, who were now sitting on one bed, craned their necks to see what was written on the small slip.

When Harry had finished reading the note, he nodded slowly and handed the note back to Naruto, who took it and threw it in the general direction of his bag.

"Well? Who was it from?" The red-head asked.

"Dumbledore," Harry replied. "He says these guys are gonna..." he hesitated, then, cringing, said, "guard me." He spat the last words out as though he could taste their foul implications.

"Well..." the red-head said, unsure of what to actually say about the new announcement. Sasuke got the impression that the red-headed boy (what was also frustrating Sasuke was the fact that he still didn't know the boy's name yet) was the closest to Harry out of all of the boys in the dorm at this point, seeing as how the red-head looked almost as angry about the note as Harry did. "How could Dumbledore do that?"

"Calm down Ron...I'll deal with it..." Harry said, getting out of his bed. Even though Harry was saying that, Sasuke could tell he really didn't mean it; Harry was pissed.

"So there it is then!" Naruto said happily, totally disregarding the sullen and agitated mood in the room. Harry looked over at him and sighed in defeat.

"Well I guess I can't argue...now," he muttered, glancing up. He then walked around the bed and held out his hand in front of Sasuke. Sasuke looked down at it for a second, and then shook it slowly.

"Nice to meet you," Harry said. "What are your guy's names?"

"Uchiha Sasuke" Sasuke said, nodding. "And he is-"

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service!" Naruto said, leaning out from behind Sasuke, shooting Harry one of his genuine smiles.

"Your names are Uchiha and Uzumaki?" Ron asked, a tone in his voice that Sasuke couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Umm, no. In Japan, you say the last name...never mind. My name is Sasuke, and his name is Naruto," Sasuke said simply, wanting them to simply stop talking-he was tired again.

"Oh. Well, my name is Ron, and this is Seamus," he pointed to the brunette with the foreign accent. Seamus threw them a small, annoyed wave, then turned and glared at Harry. "This is Dean," Ron continued, pointing to the boy that was sitting next to Seamus (Ron pointedly ignored his glare); Dean seemed more social and gave them a courteous nod, which the two ninja returned. "And this," Ron finished, "is Neville." Neville smiled nervously at the two, and Naruto returned the smile.

"Well now that that's settled..." Harry said, scratching the back of his neck-Sasuke noticed that he was avoiding looking over at Seamus.

"Do you guys have breakfast here?"

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, a ridiculing look on his face. 'You really are hopeless...' The Uchiha thought, inwardly sighing. Ron snorted.

"Don't worry-there's plenty."

Seamus suddenly jumped up and started dressing as fast as he could; the only thing that Sasuke could think of was the fact that Seamus and Harry had gotten into some fight and through the chaos that he and Naruto had created he had temporarily been distracted. Now that that chaos was resolved, Seamus remembered his lack of comfort and quickly bolted. 'But that's just suspicion,' Sasuke thought to himself. 'That doesn't mean it's true.'

Seamus was out the door before Harry had his socks on.

"Don't worry about it, Harry," Dean said, but Harry disregarded it and continued dressing.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, who shrugged and motioned to his back, saying that they might as well start getting dressed.

Fifteen minutes later, Sasuke, Naruto, Harry and Ron (Dean and Neville had already left) walked down the stairs and into the common room.

-------------

At the base of the steps, Naruto and Sasuke slipped on their ANBU masks, showing that they were now on the job. Ron raised his eyebrows at Harry, but the bespectacled boy just shrugged. Finally giving in to his curiosity, Ron leaned towards the two boys and whispered, "What's up with the animal masks?"

The two just turned their heads and said nothing, continuing to walk beside Harry.

"Talkative lot..." Ron muttered, slipping his hands into his pockets.

Sasuke looked around as his sensitive ears picked up mutterings; nearly everyone in the red-and-gold decorated room had stopped talking and looked over to the two ninja, curious. Sasuke sighed and continued walking-he didn't like this much attention. Naruto snickered, knowing that Sasuke was uncomfortable, but didn't say anything. They needed to stay professional.

"There you two are!"

The four boys turned their heads to see a girl sporting some of the wildest hair Sasuke had ever seen-and he had met Temari; this girl's hair was frizzy and looked like it hadn't been completely brushed through in a while. "Hi Harry! Hi Ron!" She said brightly, then adding politely, "...um, who are you two?"

"Hey Hermione. This is Naruto, and this is Sasuke," Harry said, pointing to them each in turn. He then added with a terse tone, "They're here to...guard me."

"Oh! Was that Dumbledore's idea?" Sasuke had figured that, like Harry and Ron, this Hermione girl would share the same distain for the two boy's guard duties; what he did not expect was to see her smile falter then grow. "Well, I think, for the time being, it's a good idea. You get into far too much trouble as it is, Harry, and with the Order of the-"

"Hermione!" Ron said hastily, shushing her with his outburst. Hermione's hand flew to her mouth and her eyes filled with worry. "You know we're not supposed to talk about the Order in public..."

"Yeah. And thanks, Hermione," Harry said dully. Naruto tilted his head in a confused gesture, but Sasuke understood-Harry was annoyed by the fact that Hermione supported the idea of him getting protection.

"Well," Hermione said, suddenly shifting her attention to Naruto and Sasuke, who were still hidden behind their masks. "I'm Hermione. It's nice to meet you two. Are you in Gryffindor?"

"Not really, no," Sasuke said simply. Naruto shook his head, then added, "We're just gonna be here for awhile. What's Gryffindor, anyway?"

"Well, it's our house, but I can explain that later. Why don't you take your masks off?" She asked as her eyebrows rose, disappearing into her bushy hair.

"No I don't think I will," Sasuke muttered, annoyed. Naruto jabbed him in the side with his elbow, and Sasuke turned and presumably glared at the blonde underneath his mask.

"It's part of our uniform. Means we can't take them off so long as we're on the job," Naruto said.

"Well what do you think? You-Know-Who's gonna jump out from behind a tapestry, in the middle of Hogwarts, and kill me?" Harry asked, his voice coated with sarcasm. Sasuke looked over at Naruto, who shrugged, then reached up and slid his mask over so it was to the side on his face; Sasuke mirrored the movement. Hermione looked shocked for a moment, and then her expression changed to something different; it took Sasuke a few seconds to decide exactly what the expression was. 'Exasperated,' Sasuke decided. Confused, Sasuke raised his eyebrows, only to see she wasn't looking at him, but behind him. Turning, Sasuke followed her line of vision until he saw a group of people crowded around a board. Hermione sighed; muttering something along the lines of "they've gone too far..." she walked over and pulled the sign off of the board briskly.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, confused as Hermione pulled Ron away and began whispering very fast; Ron looked more uncomfortable by the second.

"Ron's brothers, Fred and George. They are...well, they like gold. They make jokes and stuff, and then sell them. Drives Hermione bonkers, it does," he added, glancing over at the pair, who were walking back.

"Let's go," she said rather angrily and stomped through the portrait hole. Sasuke and Naruto glanced at one another, suddenly reminded of a slightly warped version of Ino-when angry, they're best to avoid all together. With that thought in mind, they followed Harry out of the portrait hole and down to breakfast.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed that. I wanted it to be longer, but I was just happy to get this out for y'all in the first place XD.

I'm having a sort of internal dilemma-Are any of the characters going OOC? Because if they are _please _tell me. I really don't want any of them to go OOC. I appreciate constructive criticism, just don't yell at me-you know I'm sensitive! XD

Well then, 'till next time! I'm not exactly sure when "next time" will actually be, but it certainly won't be as long as the wait for this chappie was. Now I will leave you to your reviewing (please review! Waah!!)

Peach Fresca makes the world go 'round at 2 in the morning, by the way. Toodle-oo!

Oh, I also wanted to throw a quick thank-you out to Rika'sGrayWolf, PirateCaptainBo, and KV5 Egypt, whose comforting reviews helped me get this chappie out. Thank you so much!


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